[.ca] Spider-Man: The Other HC (ISBN 0785121889)

Evolve or die? Actually, Spider-Man does both in "The Other":
It used to be that when a comic book character went through a significant change that usually meant they changed their costume, suddenly developed new powers, or if someone they cared for died tragically. That has certainly been true of Spider-Man in the past. Even before he had his own comic book Peter Parker lost Uncle Ben, then watched Gwen Stacy die before his eyes, and even had Aunt May die on him at one point in Volume 1. As for new powers, there was the time in "The Amazing Spider-Man" #100 that he grew two extra sets of arms (Spider-Man being depicted as Leonardo's Vitruvian Man on the cover is not a hint as to what happens in this mini-series) and in the wake of the blockbuster Hollywood movie followed suit and starting shooting webs out of his arms without the webshooters. Then the "Secret Wars" came along and suddenly Spider-Man had a new black costume, and we all remember how well that went. However, a few years back J. Michael Stracynski, writing "The Amazing Spider-Man," decided to follow Alan Moore's example with "The Swamp Thing," and rewrite Spider-Man's origin taking as his premise the idea that getting bit by a radioactive spider does not make a lot of sense. As Lois Gresh and Robert Weinberg explain in "The Science of Superheroes," all spiders spin silk but many (tarantulas, jumping spiders, and wolf spiders) do not make webs; only hunting spiders have the ability to walk on ceilings or up the sides of bathtubs (but they do not spin webs). Spiders are not particularly fast for their size (eight legs make that a problem) and spiders are not known for their strength (unlike ants, which are). Consequently, spider strength, spider speed, and spider agility have nothing to do with real spiders; only spider-grip and spider-sense of Peter Parker's five super powers have any relationship with actual spiders. Therefore, Stracynski came up with the idea that our hero was given his powers not by some fluke, but rather by the totemic spider spirit. The fact of nature behind "The Other: Evolve or Die" is that there are spiders who shed their skin once in their lifetime. That is actually a good thing because Spider-Man has been weaker and slower than usual, with his powers actually failing him from time to time. So he has some tests run on his blood and they reveal that there is something terribly wrong, that cannot be understood by modern medicine, let alone cured. The diagnosis is terminal, and while Peter and Mary Jane try to come to term with the news, Morlun, the parasitic hunter who has already tried to kill Spider-Man once, has returned from the grave. The initial question is whether Morlun can kill Spider-Man before Peter Parker drops dead, but then we get to the big fight and there are suddenly a whole bunch of questions to be asked and answered. "The Other: Evolve or Die" was a 12-part series that consists of "Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man" #1-4, "Marvel Knights Spider-Man" #19-22, and "The Amazing Spider-Man" #525-528. Those three titles are drawn, respectively, by Mike Wieringo, Pat Lee, and the pencils and inker team of Mike Deodato and Joe Pimentel. Now, this will sound confusing, but while those three titles are currently being written by, respectively, Peter David, Reginald Hudlin, and Stracynski, the first three parts of the story are written by David, the next three by Hudlin, then three by Stracynski, and then each writes their own title in the final third. Since Stracynski started the ball rolling on this one I assume that he is the main architect behind the new and improved Spider-Man, which is what we get at the end of this mini-series. Fortunately the new costume does not pop up until the issues after the ones collected here, because I did not like the black costume and I do not like the new one either. Iron Man can come up with a different suit for each day of the week, but that does not mean I want him designing new threads for Spider-Man. But the new costume is the least of the concerns here because what matters the most is the upgraded version of Spider-Man that we have by the end of "The Other." I understand that these are more realistic, in terms of what abilities spiders have in the real world, but there has always been a sense in which comic book superheroes are not living in the real world, no matter how much they draw it to look that way. I though webbing shooting out of Peter's wrists creeped me out, but now there is something else added to his arsenal that I think is a move in the wrong direction. Go back to the splash page of the first story in "Amazing Spider-Man" #1 and you find the words "Freak!" and "Public Menace!" It appears that after 500 issues J. Jonah Jameson got it half right. This is an important mini-series because at least for the foreseeable future every Spider-Man comic book has to follow the lead of what has been established here. Consequently, "The Other" is going to be important, perhaps even more important than it will be controversial, although that is going to be a close call and it may be only trade paperback worthy and not worthy of having in hard cover. After all, a lot of people are going to be outraged by what they find here. At this point I am more disappointed than anything else, and given the track record of Stracynski and David (Hudlin is an unknown quantity with me at this point) I am certainly willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, but I certainly have my doubts and I know I am not alone. Fans of Spider-Man will have to read this one and make up their own minds, but they might not like what they find themselves thinking.